A Museum to Stalin to open in Russia

A museum showcasing Soviet leader Josef Stalin's political and military bravado, while disregarding the mass political repression he orchestrated, will open in the Tver region in May, the Meduza news site reported Tuesday.

The authorities of Khoroshevo, a village located some 230 kilometers northwest of Moscow, approved the Russian Military-Historical Society's request to open the facility, according to Meduza.

The Russian Military-Historical Society, established on the order of President Vladimir Putin in December 2012, is headed by Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky. Some of the mandates the society lists on its official website include the creation of new military-themed museums and the “education of Russian citizens … in the spirit of love, devotion and selfless service to the motherland, respect for the defenders of the fatherland, [and] the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.”

The museum will be housed in a cottage on the former Kondratyeva collective farm, where Stalin briefly resided in August 1943, Meduza reported, citing the regional administration of human rights organization Memorial. The museum's opening is set to coincide with Russia's 70th-anniversary celebration of the Soviet Union's victory in World War II this May.